Two Homes in One – Ballast Point House by Fox Johnston
Capitalising on its sloping site, Ballast Point House sees a dual-key family home unfold over multiple levels to accommodate its residential condition. Fox Johnston combines a clarity of knowledge of the site and its constraints together with refinement, ingenuity and efficiencies.
Located in the same-named milieu, Ballast Point House proposes a home that challenges the traditional residential condition with its dual-key approach. Having lived in the wearied and dilapidated home for four years on the site prior, the home’s owners, Fox Johnston’s director Emili Fox and her photographer husband, Reiner Schuster, became a wealth of understanding of the site’s potential and context. The resulting building speaks to this innate understanding and combines refinement with efficiencies and ingenuity. As a dual-occupancy dwelling, the home’s dual-key compartmentalisation allows for multi-generational living and is an exploration of owner Emili’s experimentation with ideas around the densified residential condition.
Imagined as a multi-occupied typology, the lower two levels are designed as their own residence, for family or friends presently, and the option of becoming a permanent home for parents in the future. Above, the main residence stretches out over an additional two levels, as the home sits firmly on its site, overreaching its clifftop location. At a mere 260 square metres, the floorplate is a tightly woven and efficient use of space. Intentionally, the line between inside and out is blurred, with pockets of curated gardens and landscape by Dangar Barin Smith offering a taste of the natural from the structured refinement within.
Key to the success of the new home is the seamless integration of sustainable principles, in both the design and its working mechanisms to allow for a lighter impact on its interesting site. Considered planning allows for natural ventilation to be accessed and available throughout the home, abating the need for mechanical cooling. The integration of ceiling fans, sliding cedar screens and wide overhangs further reinforce the notion of the extended internal space reaching out beyond the building’s low-E glazed edges. Photovoltaic cells and associated battery storage allow the house to exist as 92% off the grid, which, combined with its hydronic in-slab underfloor heating, minimises the impact on the environment.
Located in the same-named milieu, Ballast Point House proposes a home that challenges the traditional residential condition with its dual-key approach.
The materiality offers both robustness and refinement. In response to its coastal location and the associated conditions, a sense of weightiness to the site was key and the combined nuanced elements provide a contemporary textural engagement. The combination of warm and muted timber elements against soft and natural stone creayes a welcomed balance to the cooler use of concrete as flooring, transition and seating elements.
Cleverly combining a knowing understanding of the site, and a clear vision for the exploration of the residential condition that unfolds, Fox Johnston’s curious approach both challenges and delights in its contemporary relevance.
